Wednesday, August 21, 2013

“The fundamental role of hurricanes in the climate system is to pump heat out of the ocean,” says Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research....The heat is dispersed through the powerful winds and ultimately shot out into space. “Hurricanes do that more efficiently than any other way,” Trenberth says....“In the New York City area, sea level has gone up about a foot,” says Trenberth, “And [Sandy] was about 5 to 10 percent stronger because of climate change, and I have no doubt that these [factors] led to the topping of the barriers and the flooding of the subway tunnels. That 40 or 50 billion dollars of the cost of Sandy — that was because of climate change.”...The majority of climate models, however, predict we won’t see more hurricanes — they’ll just get a hell of a lot worse.

If not a single hurricane expert thinks there’s a link between hurricanes and global warming, how can it possibly be OK for an IPCC senior author [Trenberth] who is not a hurricane expert to make statements to the contrary at a press conference?